Jim, Here's a question for ya.
Why not run a turf mag like car/motorcyle mags? I guessing your income is from the ads so you dont want to say bad things about some machines. I feel that you are doing alittle disservice to us the end users by doing this.

I read many motorcycle mags and if a manufactur comes out with a crappy product they rip it. AND the manufactur fixes it.

Use perma green as a example, that machine has so many flaws right from the start, the end user is the R&D for that company cause every year they come out with a new machine. Some flaws are fixed only to have others show up on the new machine.

Back when we were in the mowing business we bought a toro z355, what a mistake that machine was, if I got a chance to read some honest info then i would have never spent 10k on a mower.

Here's the answer to your question: Our revenue is indeed from advertising ... but unlike other magazines, we have never shrunk away from telling the truth. The field tests we've done to date are published unedited (except for typos, etc). If someone finds a problem --- like the ones found with the Perma Green sprayer -- it's right there in the magazine.

Now if we had a field test article which was obviously done by someone with an ax to grind, we wouldn't run it. But fair criticism is fair.

My guess is that you don't read my magazines much ... or you'd know that we don't sell you guys down the river, ever.

Also -- if I knew a piece of equipment was junk (and there is some junk out there) -- I wouldn't see any value in getting it field tested. Why give junk all that exposure?

Example: should I do a field test using a Craftsman rider for commercial purposes? I don't think so. I used to have one. For mowing my lawn (small at the time) it was just fine. For commercial use, it's junk.

Thing is, most of what the manufacturers in this industry offer is good, solid equipment ... so I have no reason to contemplate any disservice to you folks.

There is no "tone" to this note ... I'm not offended in the slightest ... it is a fair question and I hope you feel as if this was a fair answer.